Metal Gear Solid (Game Boy Color)

Metal Gear Solid for the Game Boy Color, also known as Metal Gear Ghost Babel in Japan, is an 8-bit entry of the Metal Gear series. Despite carrying the name of Metal Gear Solid (internationally, at least), this game has a completely different plot and cast than the PSX classic. Unlike the earlier MSX games in the series, Kojima was only involved as a producer.

Notes

Debug Menu#

Game Genie code 001-87F-B32 or GameShark code 01000AC4 will start all versions of the game in a rather comprehensive debug menu. It includes a sound test, cutscene viewer, the ability to fly to any VR Mission, and a plethora of other options.

Press Left or Right to browse through the menus, and press Down or A to make a selection. Pressing B will return to the previous selection.

Option	Description	Screenshot
PRGNO 00	Select any screen or area in the game.
PRGNO 01	Jumps to the Konami Logo.
PRGNO 02	Crashes the game.
PRGNO 03	Jumps to the title screen.
PRGNO 04	Jumps to the in-game stage select screen.
PRGNO 05	Jumps to the debug menu.
PRGNO 06	Jumps to the VR mission menu screen.
PRGNO 07	Jumps to the first map.
PRGNO 08	Jumps to the debug menu.
PRGNO 09	Level select 1 with starting combat position and weapons.
PRGNO 0A	Level select 2.
PRGNO 0B	Level select 3.
PRGNO 0C	Tests the integrity of the SRAM battery backup. Also allows you to erase the SRAM.
PRGNO 0D	VS level select 1. Two players are still required. You will receive a connection error when attempting to load a level without a second Game Boy.
PRGNO 0E	VS level select 2. Two players are still required. You will receive a connection error when attempting to load a level without a second Game Boy.
PRGNO 0F	Select any screen or area in the game.
PRGNO 10	Jumps to the debug menu.
PRGNO 11	Select any mission screen in the game.
PRGNO 12	Select any screen or area in the game.
PRGNO 13	Select any screen or area in the game.
PRGNO 14	Select any screen or area in the game.
PRGNO 15	Select any screen or area in the game. Screen 15 will actually unlock the sound mode.
PRGNO 16	Select any screen or area in the game.
PRGNO 17	Select any screen or area in the game.
PRGNO 18	Select any screen or area in the game.
PRGNO 19	Select any screen or area in the game.
PRGNO 1A	Select any screen or area in the game.
PRGNO 1B	Select any screen or area in the game.
PRGNO 1C	Select any screen or area in the game.
PRGNO 1D	Select any screen or area in the game.
PRGNO 1E	Select any screen or area in the game.
PRGNO 1F	Play any sound or music in the game.

Unused Items#

There's an unused item accessible through the debug menu from Stage 3 onwards.

Build Dates#

Japan	North America	Europe

The build dates for each version can be seen on the game's debug screen. The Japanese version was compiled on January 31 at 12:32, while the American and European versions were both compiled 15 minutes apart on February 22 at 10:33 and 10:47 respectively.

Sound Test#

Japan	U.S./Europe

Under normal circumstances, the sound mode can only be accessed after finishing all VR missions in the game in both practice and time attack mode. However, it can be enabled earlier through the debug menu using a Game Genie or GameShark.

Japan/U.S.	Europe

In the Sound Mode, use the Control Pad to navigate through the BGM and SE list. Press A to play the track or sound effect, and B to stop the music.

Regional Differences#

Title#

Japan	North America	Europe

The Japanese version released as Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, while the international version changed it to match the name of Metal Gear Solid, likely to boost sales. Because of this, the logo in the Japanese version is positioned slightly differently. Note that the American version is the only one with a registered trademark.

A "Licensed by Nintendo" screen was also added to the American and European versions prior to the Konami logo when the game starts.

Language Settings#

Japan/U.S.	Europe

The European version features support for five different languages accessible from the options screen, with English serving as the default setting. These menus are actually present in the code for the Japanese and American version, but they were not implemented since they only contain one version of the script each. The European version actually has the entire Japanese script as well within the code, but it's inaccessible by normal means.

Radar#

The on-screen indicators for the radar were appropriately localized. Both sets of indicators are actually stored in all three versions of the game.

IdeaSpy 2.5#

IdeaSpy 2.5 is a story within a story that is unlocked in the Japanese and European versions from the second playthrough and onward. It's presented as an in-game radio drama, accessible by going to the codec screen and dialing frequency number 140.07. The story is divided into 13 episodes, one for each stage of the game.

This story was also meant to be present in the American version, but was not fully implemented due to insufficient ROM space - a huge chunk of the script is actually contained within the American ROM starting at 0x1FC000, but gets cut-off at offset 0x1FF27A, ending abruptly with the beginning of Episode 8. As a result, the frequency number was disabled in the American version and Shuyo Murata's (the author) entry in the ending credits was removed as well. The European version, which uses a 32-megabit ROM size (in order to support the multiple languages settings besides English) instead of the 16-megabit ROM used by the other versions, didn't have to deal with such space constraints and as such the entire story is fully present in all five supported languages.

References#